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The Estate

Like any country house, Mirehouse cannot be considered apart from the estate that is linked with it.

A number of local fells, Ullock Pike, Dodd, Latrigg and Lonscale Fell form part of the estate as well as the lovely Brundholme Woods in the Greta valley. The south end of Bassenthwaite Lake is an important conservation area, home for all or part of the year to a wide range of birds. Most famously, Ospreys have returned to nest in this valley: the first in England for one hundred and fifty years.

All the farms are in the Lake District Environmentally Sensitive Area. This means that schemes of work must be agreed with the National Park Authority and other government bodies. Sites of Special Scientific Interest cover one thousand acres of the estate. These are subject to even more stringent controls.

All the farms are let, but the woodlands are managed by the owner. To him falls the often difficult task of balancing the need to grow good commercial timber as a viable business with the duty of any owner of land in a National Park to conserve and enhance the landscape for which he is responsible and the wildlife that inhabits it.

One of the new Jubilee Woods listed by the Woodland Trust to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is sited at Burnt Horse on the lower craggy slopes of Lonscale Fell. Part of Mirehouse Estate, this wood is planted mainly with Juniper, some Sessile Oak, Rowan and Hawthorn. On the site are a few elderly Juniper and the remains of an ancient Lake District Oak Wood. So the "new" Wood is truly a restoration.